Internet Privacy

“Brunton and Nissenbaum’s outrage centers on two points. First, they insist that major tech companies are actively trying to keep us in the dark, and they’re capitalizing on our limited knowledge of how data mining and analysis works.”

“Second, Brunton and Nissenbaum maintain that tech companies engage in lots of machinations to exploit our vulnerabilities and keep us powerless.”

“They give lip service to “choice,” but hugely benefit from the extremely high social and economic costs of opting out of their data-mining services.”

“Obfuscation “is the deliberate addition of ambiguous, confusing, or misleading information to interfere with surveillance and data collection.” There are lots of ways to do it.”

“Efficacy is important, but in my opinion it’s not decisive here and certainly shouldn’t be used as a trump card to dismiss Brunton and Nissenbaum’s agenda. It’s early days for their obfuscation efforts, and so we shouldn’t be too invested yet in how well the software actually works. Movements take time to build, which is why we’re better off viewing TrackMeNot and AdNauseum as akin to thought experiments.”

“scholarship is changing and it’s important to acknowledge that this book is a sign of the changing times. Once a researcher is ready to write a game-changing monograph, there’s a good chance others have publically comment on the project and the author has already worked out the guiding logic and rehearsed key examples in public: in interviews; in Op-Eds; in blog posts; in podcasts; in archived talks and videotaped conference appearances; in book reviews; and in papers that exist, in some version, outside the confines of paywalls.”

“Overall, this is a positive development. When you know in advance that the public might scrutinize your claims and when you think hard about the comments your public presentations elicit, you can become crystal clear about your subject matter and develop a reliable sense of how to select examples that arouse your reader’s curiosity and sympathy. At the same time, this means turning readable and relevant academic books into unoriginal consolidated records of disparate public archives.”